''The Madding Crowd'' is the debut major-label

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the American rock band

Nine Days Nine Days (stylized as ''ninedays'') is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. It was formed in 1994 by John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, and released three independent albums in the 1990s before their mainstream debut album, ''The Mad ...

, released on May 16, 2000, by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. It spawned the major hit "

Absolutely (Story of a Girl) "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" is a song by American rock band Nine Days for the group's fourth studio album, ''The Madding Crowd'' (2000). The song was released as the lead single from ''The Madding Crowd'' in March 2000 through 550 Music and ...

" and another single, "

If I Am "If I Am" is a single by the American alternative rock band, Nine Days. The song was the second single from Nine Days' 2000 album, ''The Madding Crowd''. "If I Am" was a follow-up to their first single, "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)". The song w ...

". It peaked at number 67 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album's title is a reference to

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

's 1874 novel ''

Far from the Madding Crowd ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1874) is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in ''Cornhill Magazine'', where it gained a wide readership. The novel is set in ...

''.

Track listing

# "So Far Away" (Brian Desveaux, John Hampson) – 3:56 # "

" (Hampson) – 3:09 # "

" (Hampson) – 4:18 # "End Up Alone" (Hampson) – 3:57 # "Sometimes" (Desveaux) – 5:14 # "Bob Dylan" (Desveaux,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

) – 4:35 # "257 Weeks" (Hampson) – 4:04 # "Bitter" (Desveaux) – 6:21 # "Back to Me" (Desveaux) – 4:00 # "Crazy" (Desveaux, Hampson) – 4:14 # "Revolve" (Hampson) – 3:54 # "Wanna Be" (Desveaux) – 6:03

Personnel

*Jeremy Dean –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Brian Desveaux –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Nick Dimichino –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*John Hampson – vocals, guitar *Vincent Tattanelli –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

Commercial performance

"The Madding Crowd" debuted at number 63 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album was certified Gold in the United States with 500,000 album copies sold.

Charts

Certifications

Demo recordings

In January 2013, upon the relaunch of the band's official website, several old live recordings and demos were made available to the band's fans for the first time. Included among these were the original demos for ''The Madding Crowd.'' These demos were recorded in 1998 and 1999 between the band's independently released album ''Three'' and their first mainstream hit, "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)." # Another Day # Absolutely # If I Am # Too Much Love # Esteem # Nobody # Revolve # Bring It Back (released as "Sometimes" on the studio release) # Day by Daybreak # Heart Defect # Side to Side (an early version of "257 Weeks") # Wanna Be # That's How You Are Of the songs included in the demo collection, five were later recorded and included on the actual release of the album in, more or less, an unaltered, though more produced, form. One more track, "Side to Side", carries the same melody and many of the same lyrics as "257 Weeks" but is not completely the same song.

In popular culture

* "Another Day" was included on the soundtrack of the 2001 film ''

Summer Catch ''Summer Catch'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Tollin and starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel and Matthew Lillard. The film marked Tollin's feature film List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. The settin ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madding Crowd, The 2000 albums Epic Records albums Nine Days albums